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Sen. Bob Hall went on an antigay tirade during a committee hearing over whether LGBTQ Republicans will be allowed at the state GOP convention.
The Texas Republican Party has once again denied the Log Cabin Republicans a booth at the state convention, as the party has for at least 22 years, with one Republican legislator saying LGBTQ people have "unnatural sex" and promote "abominable sex education."
State Sen. Bob Hall made the remarks while testifying Friday before the State Republican Executive Committee in Austin. The committee was deciding on Log Cabin's application to become an official state party affiliate or at least have a convention booth; the party has rejected Log Cabin's overtures for every convention at least since 1998.
"This abominable sex education that goes on in our schools where they're trying to push unnatural sex as natural -- we are not on the same side of that issue!" said Hall, who is not a member of the committee but testified as a guest, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.
Hall also said Log Cabin members "don't have the basic belief in the God of the Bible that we are founded on. I could not find anywhere on their website an expression of their faith in God like you will find on a Republican website."
Star-Telegram columnist Bud Kennedy found that amusing. "Look, I can click around and find plenty of Republican websites that don't include prayers or religious messages," he noted.
Another Republican pushing anti-LGBTQ views was Steven Hotzke, a longtime right-wing activist who was a major funder of the successful campaign to repeal Houston's antidiscrimination ordinance in 2015. He had sent out emails saying Log Cabin and other LGBTQ groups promote "immoral and perverted sexual proclivities" and the "sexualization of children" -- the latter, according to him, is something drag queen story hours do.
Members of the state's Young Republicans and some others called for the party to welcome Log Cabin, but as Kennedy wrote, "as always, old Republicans won." On Saturday, the executive committee refused to even allow a vote on Log Cabin's application, therefore killing it, the Houston Chronicle reports. The committee would also not allow Marco Roberts, president of Log Cabin's Houston chapter, to speak.
"Obviously, we are very disappointed with the decision made by our elected representatives," Roberts said in a statement, according to the Chronicle. "There were a few courageous members of the SREC who stood with us, even under enormous pressure to refrain from doing so. We owe them our highest respect and deepest gratitude. ... Many have told us that it is upon us to make the case for ourselves. We agree, and we intend to do that, for us, and for our great party."
But the party isn't so great for LGBTQ people, said Glen Maxey, who was the first openly gay Texas legislator and is now primary director for the Texas Democratic Party. The Republicans' rejection of Log Cabin's application is "yet another example of how extremism and prejudice have come to define the Republican Party," he said in a statement.
"It is dead wrong and the Texas Republicans' decision today only reinforces their idea that all people aren't created equal," Maxey added. "To every Log Cabin Republican, we have one message: You are welcome in the Texas Democratic Party. Come join us in the fight for equality and march with us as we strive for a more just, fair society."
By the way, Hall, from District 2 in northeastern Texas, was rated by Texas Monthly last year as one of the state's worst legislators. He once said an opponent in the Republican primary was controlled by Satan, and he has accused public schools of engaging in "communist indoctrination." He has also claimed that Planned Parenthood encourages teenagers to become pregnant in order to keep up demand for abortions -- a truly bizarre statement considering that Planned Parenthood promotes contraception.
